Suiting up for the final regular season game of their high school careers, Madi Archuleta, Brittney Hampton, Rylee Lindsley, Josie Berholtz and Cassidy Leonard agreed that they wanted to do something special.
Then, over the next 80 minutes, the quintet of Lady Panthers’ seniors played their hearts out on the offensive and defensive ends and in doing so, led their team to a 4-1 home victory over Bayfield on May 2.
“For our seniors, today being their last game, it brought out focus,” said M-CHS head coach Nathan Ross. “We were able to control the tempo today and control the ball well.”
After continuously attacking throughout the game’s opening minutes, the Lady Panthers scored the first goal of the game when Lindsley sent a crossing pass towards the center of the net, which glanced off McKenzie Howerton, before being knocked in by Brittney Hampton.
“Riley had a really good cross and McKenzie nicked it,” Hampton said. “I just happened to be there and I was able to put it in.”
The Lady Panthers took a 2-0 lead later in the first half when Hampton chipped a perfect pass between two Bayfield defenders and Lindsley collected the pass and scored.
M-CHS’s third goal came courtesy of Archuleta, who collected a perfect pass from Howerton and fired one of the hardest shots of her career into the back of the net.
“I was able to take a touch and dribble closer instead of just booting it from the outside,” said Archuleta, when asked about the goal.
The Lady Panthers final goal came half when Archuleta collected a loose ball near midfield and dribbled into open space before firing a pass to Hampton, who dribbled around a Bayfield defender and fired a hard shot into the back of the net.
Bayfield’s loan goal came in the game’s 80th minute when Misty Helton drilled a perfect free-kick past M-CHS goalie Elena Cosner from 40-yards out.
Now 7-7-0 overall and 5-4-0 in the Intermountain League, the Lady Panthers will await word as to whether they will qualify for one of 24 playoff spots available in Class 3A.
Regardless of whether they qualify for the playoffs however, players and coaches agreed that the Lady Panthers impressive finish to the regular season will stand out in their minds when they look back on the year.
“Our strong finish meant a lot,” Lindsley said. “The first half of the season, people were gone and our full team wasn’t playing every game. The second half of the season, everyone played together and we started winning. It was a lot of fun.”